


Mirror Dragon Ball Z

by Randomideaguy



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-10-17 00:59:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10583112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomideaguy/pseuds/Randomideaguy
Summary: What If Goku had never received that fatal bump on his forehead? Such a small event could have implications for the entire universe, and decide the fate of Earth itself.





	1. Chapter 1

Mirror Dragon Ball

Pre-Dragonball  
As the Saiyan Genocide is underway, Bardock, a low class soldier, sends his son on an escape pod into deep space, hoping to spare him of the coming bloodshed. It works, as Freiza's brother, Cooler, overlooks the pod as "Freiza's problem", and Freiza himself does not notice. The pod eventually finds it's merry way to Earth, where it is discovered by an old hermit by the name of Gohan. Inside the pod lays a young boy, whom Gohan names Goku. Through sheer persistence and intense training, Gohan focuses the Saiyan's inherent rage into a more controlled demeanor. By the age of thirteen, Goku has become cold, channeling his rage into his attacks rather than his words or expressions.

Of course, the beast was still within, so the moment Gohan stopped being useful to Goku, well...

Emperor Pilaf Saga  
Goku only had a few short months after the, erm, unfortunate death of Gohan to relax and train, contemplating his next move. Luckily, he did not have to do too much planning, as his next challenge walked right into the hermit's property, hoping to steal some "dragon ball" from Goku. Of course, Goku wasn't going to fall for her stupid game, and he almost eliminated her when she frantically explained the power of the balls – a single wish. Now, this peaked Goku's interest quite a bit. He thought he might find it useful to wish for ultimate power.

And so, Goku's first quest began, with the rather annoying girl, Bulma, at his side. Of course, throughout the course of the journey, she grew on Goku, who admired her ability to manipulate people by dangling the potential for sex in their face. Goku made other allies along the way, including Yamcha (a thief), Oolong (a child rapist), and Master Roshi (a friend of Grandpa Gohans). He makes a few enemies along the way, as well, including the Ox King and Emperor Pilaf.

Both fall to the will of Goku.

Of course, they don't really encounter Pilaf until the end, when the Dragon is finally summoned. At this point, it becomes an utter free for all, even among Goku's group, as to who will get the one wish. While Goku is battling Pilaf and his henchmen, the sneaky Oolong goes to the dragon and humbly wishes for a pair of comfortable panties. After dealing with Pilaf, and enraged Goku kills Oolong for stealing his gift. The dragon balls separate, and will unusable for a year.

The reason for their alliance of convenience now gone, the group promptly splits up.

World Tournament Saga  
After the fiasco involving the dragon balls, Goku finds his way back to Master Roshi, seeking someone to continue his martial arts training. As they are discussing the possibility, a young shaolin monk by the name of Krillin arrives at the hermit's island by boat, asking for the same training as Goku. With the two eager young boys assembled, Roshi mischievously concocts an agreement with the two: he will train them, if they "get him a woman". Goku flies to Brief Corp and very nearly kidnaps Bulma for the old man, but for some reason he manages to stop himself at the last second.

He travels back to the Ox King's palace, and takes the distraught Chi-Chi, the daughter of the old man, and whisks her away to Master Roshi's place. He justified his change of mind in that Bulma would be better able to help him find the Dragon Balls in a years time if she wasn't some dirty old hermit's sex slave. As for Chi-Chi he didn't really care for the spunky brat, and as far as he was concerned she needed to be knocked down a few pegs. What better way to do that than to hand her over to a potential rapist?

Regardless of motivation, with everything squared away, Roshi agrees to train Goku and Krillin. To the former's mild frustration, he doesn't do much with Chi-Chi besides turn her into his personal maid. Perhaps he's uncomfortable with the fact that she is a child. Regardless, Goku takes his mind off of the tramp and trains vigorously under the Turtle Hermit, pushing himself as hard as possibly. Throughout it all, Goku constantly degrades his fellow student, Krillin. Goku views Krillin as an inferior creature, while Krillin believes that Goku is his rival.

Almost a year later, Roshi takes the boys to the World Martial Arts Tournament, which both boys have entered. Upon arrival, Goku reunites with Yamcha and Bulma, who have somewhat of a relationship going on, making Goku subconsciously jealous. Before the tournament, he and Yamcha rob a bank together, and Goku very nearly leaves his friends for the cops to take down. But, Yamcha pulls himself through, and they make it back to the tournament just in time. Goku quickly makes his way through the bracket, his devastating yet precise attacks obliterating the competition. He faces off against the legendary Jackie Chun, who, to Goku's immense frustration, proves to be stronger than the Saiyan. As the fight drags on, an impatient and enraged Goku breaks Chun's arm in an illegal move, disqualifying himself. Of course, Chun doesn't just let this slide, and even though the fight is technically over still manages to pin Goku with one arm until the ten count is over.

Revealing himself to be Roshi, he scolds the student for his carelessness, telling him that he still has much to learn before he can beat the Turtle Hermit. He pokes Goku's ego by saying that those who fight using dirty tricks are simply cowards.

Red Ribbon Army Saga  
Thoroughly pissed off at his master, Goku takes Bulma and leaves the Turtle Hermit's training, to once again search for the Dragon Balls. Just as last time, an uppity group of humans think that they can just take what Goku wants. In this case, the Red Ribbon Army, a paramilitary remnant of despotic colonial powers in Asia. Every time they cross his path, Goku destroys their forces, and by the time he has secured five of the seven dragon balls he has also managed to cut the army in half.

Of course, he wasn't without his own losses. One contingent of the army managed to kidnap Bulma from Goku, who decides to leave her behind after he figures out how to work the dragon radar himself. Additionally, he narrowly escapes death at the hands of Mercenary Tao, an assassin hired by the Red Ribbon Army to kill Goku. In order to gain the power necessary to defeat Tao, Goku climbs Korin Tower to obtain the Sacred Water that originally gave Roshi his immense power. After some peristence, Goku obtains the water from the wretched cat, and discovers that there is nothing special about it. In frustration, Goku threatens the little creature until it gives him something that is actually useful – Senzu Beans. With these in hand, Goku finds Tao this time, and beats him within an inch of his life, before leaving him to die alone and miserable in the forest.

As if things weren't already going swell, the dragon radar broke after Goku got the sixth ball. Six balls don't a dragon make, so Goku travels back to the Red Ribbon Army base to obtain Bulma. Upon rescuing her, he finds that she has been thoroughly abused by her captors, and in a rage destroys the entire base, killing every last soldier in the place. Upon the completion of this task, Goku very nearly prompts the woman to fix the radar, even in her shattered state.

But, looking at the remains of the broken Red Ribbon Army base, Goku finally realizes the importance of Korin and Roshi's teachings – he can obtain ultimate power without some cheap trick. After all, Son Goku is simply above such shortcuts!

Tien Shinhan Saga  
Three years later, Goku reunites with him friends at the Martial Arts Tournament, as is customary. He rather coldly greets Roshi and Krillin, now the star (cough – only) student of the Turtle Hermit. He greets Yamcha with only slightly more affection, trying to goad the thief into another heist. Lastly, he sees Bulma. Traumatized from her treatment at the hands of the Red Ribbon Army, Bulma has been in something of a haze the last few years, unsuccessfully visiting multiple therapists. She is starting to get back on her feet, but still. The fact that her stupid boyfriend, Yamcha, is utterly lost as to how to comfort her, is not helping. Recognizing this vulnerability, Goku decides to her "comfort" her himself in a nearby bathroom.

This leads to a humongous fight between Bulma and Yamcha right before the tournament begins, resulting in a distraught Yamcha being utterly destroyed at the hands of a new challenger by the name of Tien Shinhan. To Goku's chagrin, he is unable to fight his former teacher, Master Roshi, who is handily defeated by Shinhan as well. But, he does get to face off against his pupil, Krillin, whom he continually taunts throughout their fight. After many minutes of this and toying with him, Goku finally goads Krillin into using an illegal move on Goku, this disqualifying the monk and giving Goku reason to snap his arm, to make the master and apprentice more alike. Goku then delivers a chilling lecture to the defeated Krillin, deriding his very existence as futile and branding him a coward for resorting to breaking the rules.

From there, Goku breezes to the final bout of the tournament, where he faces off against Tien Shinhan, the star student of Roshi's rival. They have a good fight, and though he tows the edge of the line, Goku eventually wins fair and square, albeit with Tien's third eye forced shut from bruises, the result of too many shots to the face. From there, Goku takes his winnings and goes for a rather awkward lunch with Yamcha, Bulma, Roshi, and Krillin, which promptly erupts into utter chaos as they all begin arguing, leading Goku and Bulma to depart together.

King Piccolo Saga  
Of course, before the unofficial couple can do anything "else" (wink wink), they have to travel back to the stadium to find a certain undergarment that Bulma, erm, "lost" in the bathroom earlier. It seems lady luck is jealous of Bulma and Goku's relationship, though, because as soon as they are about to leave for her house, the strange creature known as Tambourine arrives and begins attacking Goku, who is forced to stay on the defensive.

The battle causes quite a commotion, resulting in Tien, Yamcha, Roshi, and Krillin all arriving to fight the alien creature, despite their tension with Goku. During the battle, Goku "accidentally" lets an energy blast slip past his defenses, resulting in the unfortunate death of the uppity Yamcha, who "just wasn't strong enough", according to Goku. Still, the combined forces of the group wards the demon henchman off, giving Roshi the chance to explain the entire situation to the gathered martial artists. It appears that the Demon King Piccolo has returned, despite the efforts that Roshi and Mutaito put into sealing the evil alien many years ago.

From there, Goku runs off to the forest to investigate the initial sightings of the "Demon King". He discovers very quickly that stupid little midget, Pilaf, unleashed the Demon King upon the world. Before he can act upon this little bit of information, Tambourine once again arrives, having decided it was better to take out the martial artists one by one. Goku is not yet powerful enough to take on the demon henchman, and his body ends up in the river, assumed to be dead by Tambourine. Goku's life is saved only by the timely arrival of Yajirobe, who finds a boy in the river while he is searching for fish.

Goku wakes up a few hours later, very nearly about to be cooked and eaten by the fat samurai, when the arrival of another of Piccolo's henchmen, Cymbal, distracts him. Goku manages to escape while the samurai defeats the alien and then feasts upon it's carcass. Realizing that the death of one of his henchmen while draw King Piccolo's henchmen near, Goku hides out in the bushes next to Yajirobe's camp. Sure enough, Tambourine arrives, having just finished cleaning Roshi and Krillin's clocks, leaving the former nearly dead. Tambourine makes quick work of the fat samurai, and then ironically makes a meal out of him. Goku watches in mild satisfaction at the poetic justice of the situation, before finally revealing himself to the alien. Frustrated at the continued survival of this resilient human, Tambourine goes after Goku full force.

Using Yajirobe's sword, Goku deftly dismembers the creature, and finishes it off by blowing it's measly brains out. This leads to the now thoroughly frustrated King Piccolo to travel to the place himself, but Goku quickly leaves, realizing that he cannot yet face the Demon King. Piccolo gets all the Dragon Balls, and wishes to be young once more, greatly increasing his power level. With restored youth and great power, Piccolo then sets about to the dirty work of taking over the world. It is fairly easy, considering that most of the groups that could have opposed him (Ox King, Emperor Pilaf, Red Ribbon Army) had been wiped out before his arrival.

Goku hides out at Capsule Corp, essentially moving in with Bulma, to the disapproval of her father. Besides using this as a chance to get jiggy with it, they do actually work on various plans to defeat the demon king. Of course, the work is somewhat slow, given the, ahem, distractions, but they do make progress. Of course, it is all for naught, when, after a few short weeks, Piccolo is once again resealed thanks to the efforts of Tien Shinhan, who sacrificed his life to cram the evil back into it's can. There are rumors that Piccolo made one last egg before his death, but no one can really confirm this. The world is once again at peace.

Piccolo Jr. Saga  
Three years later, Goku travels once again to the World Martial Arts tournament. Here, he meets Krillin, who has married Chi-Chi, Roshi's former maid (possibly sex slave). While those two have never had a child, Goku and Bulma already have a strapping young lad by the name of Trunks running around (he was named by his mother). Besides becoming a father, Goku has been training vigorously in the interim, and has nearly run out of his stolen stash of senzu beans thanks to his harsh regiment.

The group is surprised when they discover that one of the contestants is Piccolo Jr., the son of the late King Piccolo. The spawn of the rumored Last Egg, Piccolo Jr. was discovered and raised by Kami for the sole purpose of becoming the new guardian of Earth. Junior is naturally very brutal in his methodology, but he has been tempered by Kami's influence. He has come to the Martial Arts Tournament to test his strength against the people of earth, and (secretly) to vanquish Goku's evil presence from the planet.

Sure enough, the two reach the final round of the tournament, and face off against each other. Goku has trained hard in the interim, hoping to actually beat his demonic foe this time around. And indeed, he very nearly does beat the alien within an inch of his life, when the solemn Krillin decides to make the ultimate sacrifice for the planet earth, and release the Evil Containment Wave upon Son Goku himself. It works, and Krillin is, as per the rules of the attack, killed as a result of it. Bulma and Chi-Chi are equally distraught over the loss of their husbands, and if not for their grief might have killed each other in a cat fight. Meanwhile, the defeated Piccolo Jr. has been humbled by the onslaught of the Saiyan beast. He now realizes that he has much more to learn before he will truly be the savior of the earth.


	2. Chapter 2

Vegeta Saga  
It has been five years since the events of the Piccolo Jr. Saga, wherein Krillin sacrificed his life to seal Goku in the Evil Containment Wave. Very recently, Chi-Chi and her young son Ox have gathered all of the Dragon Balls (without the help of Bulma's radar, it took many years) and wished Krillin back to life. When the Saiyan by the name of Raditz arrives, he goes for the most powerful energy source on the planet. This leads him to Krillin, who has become one of the most powerful humans in existence, due in part to his training from King Kai in the Other World. Unforunately, his time away from the family and his intense focus on training to "protect the Earth" has caused him considerable drift from his family, who put a lot of work into bringing him back. The already emotionally scarred Chi-Chi grows more and more depressed by the day, and the four year old Ox has also noticed this.

Despite his prowess, Krillin is not an even match for the powerful Raditz. It takes the timely arrival of Piccolo Jr, who has only gotten stronger since his match with Goku, for Raditz to be eliminated. Via his scouter, the Saiyans Vegeta and Nappa discover the existence of Goku, the "King Slayer". Needing a powerful ally if they are to overthrow Freiza, the duo head off to Earth to gain a new friend.

As a result of the fight, Piccolo correctly deduces the connection between Saiyan blood and great power. With this in mind, he tracks down Bulma and Trunks. In the last five years Trunks has become a great genius (for an eight year old), but has also become very haughty and proud. Warning Bulma of the coming invasion, he is allowed to train Trunks [but only on the weekends!]. The next year or so is spent with Trunks alternately training with Krillin, Piccolo, Kami, and Mr. Popo. The experience is a crazy one for the young boy, who hadn't practiced martial arts since his father's "death" five years ago. Throughout the whole process, Trunks asks more and more questions about the fate of his father and what happened to him, and why the Earth was so great that it needed protection in the first place.

At long last, the Saiyans arrive, and the trio (Piccolo, Krillin, and Trunks) confront the group as "the only good men the world has to offer". They put up an okay fight, but they were simply no match for Nappa, much less Vegeta. It was only through Trunks turning into his Great Ape form that the henchman was killed under Trunks' heel. After this, Vegeta intervened and cut off Trunks' tail, leaving Piccolo and Krillin to face off against the Saiyan monster.

It was here that Trunks had his crisis of faith. Through Vegeta's goading, he realized that he was assisting his father's enemies defend a world of which he had no part in. With this in mind, the nine year old boy made the decision to turn on Krillin and Piccolo. With the tides turned, Piccolo fled to Kami's Tower, and Krillin was captured and made to take them to the place where Goku's prison lay. Here, they used very nearly killed Krillin for the purpose of breaking the bond on the prison, thus releasing the powerful (and angry) Goku out of his prison. The angry Saiyan very quickly took to beating the already down and out Krillin, giving him a senzu bean every time he came close to death. Once the beans ran out, along with Goku's rage, the savage beating stopped, leaving Trunks somewhat shocked and Vegeta thoroughly impressed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Off To Planet Namek!**

With the King Slayer before him, Vegeta recruits the evil Goku for what might be the greatest fight he's ever been in. Freiza is a despotic dictator of the universe, and Vegeta wants to overthrow him and take control himself, with Goku at his right hand. With this in mind, Goku gets into Nappa's pod and follows Vegeta on a track to planet Namek. After they leave Trunks returns home and frantically informs his mother of what went down. Bulma then gets it in her head to create her own ship to follow her runaway husband to this godforsaken world he's went off to fight on.

On the way to Namek, Vegeta informs Goku about the Saiyan ability to get stronger after near death experiences. While Goku has suspected this for some time now (and indeed, used it to his advantage already), he now knew for certain. With this in mind, Goku convinces Vegeta that they should stop along the way and fight each other to near death, in order to be stronger when they reach Freiza. After a brutal fight where both nearly go all the way and kill each other, the two battered Saiyans crawl back to their respective ships and fly off to a nearby Freiza Empire station, where they are both placed in healing tanks. Since Vegeta has not openly declared his rebellion yet, they assume Vegeta is still a servant of the emperor, and that Goku is just another Saiyan. So, the imbeciles heal their enemies.

Meanwhile, back on Earth the determined Bulma works night and day on a machine to take them to Namek. Piccolo, with the assistance of Kami, travels about the Earth searching for the Dragon Balls. Krillin, meanwhile, enlists the help of Kami in securing a ship to Namek. After a few weeks, Krillin and Bulma leave Earth in two separate ships, completely unaware of each other. Krillin wants to go to Namek because he believes that if Goku manages to defeat Freiza, he will come back to Earth and take it over. Bulma wishes to see her husband again and will not allow him to renege on his fatherhood.

Bulma, Trunks, Krillin, Goku, and Vegeta thus all arrive on Namek simultaneously, each with their own unique agenda. All three groups discover upon their arrival that Freiza is searching for the Namekian Dragon Balls in order to wish for eternal life, and is going on a rampage across the planet in order to find them. He has already massacred four villages and obtained four dragon balls. Vegeta, wanting a similar wish, goes on his own quest to obtain them. Goku reluctantly follows, somewhat disappointed in the Saiyan King taking the easy route.

During their various searches about the planet, the groups encounter two of Freiza's lieutenants. Krillin rebuffs Dodoria from killing the last surviving member of a Namekian village (Dende). Trunks, meanwhile, accidentally stumbles upon Zarbon, and is forced to run or die. By pure luck he leads the villain to Goku and Vegeta, who both strong arm the preppy warrior. After pinning him to the ground, the two appeal to Zarbon's own selfishness and convince him to join them against Freiza, who is obviously not the best boss.

Zarbon takes Vegeta back to Freiza's ship as a "prisoner", Trunks takes Goku back to Bulma, and Dende takes Krillin to Guru. Via a clever ploy, Vegeta distracts Freiza and steals the Dragon Balls he had already gathered. Goku has an intense argument with Bulma that gets "physical" (giggity). Krillin, meanwhile, gets his hidden potential unlocked by Guru.

Freiza, realizing Zarbon's betrayal, kills the uppity minion himself, and then contacts the Ginyu Force to come solve the problem for him.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Ginyu Force Arrives!**

Just as things seem to be going downhill for Krillin, who now has the unfortunate prospect of facing two groups of superpowerful alien mercenaries, the cavalry arrives. Piccolo managed to track down, and has now arrived on Namek with a strange cloaked figure in tow, and also holding a mysterious object in a small bag. The two meet with Krillin at Guru's abode, and begin to plan for the coming battle. They are trying to keep the Dragon Balls out of the hands of all groups, and thus plan on holding at least one away at all times. They realize that this will force them to take on the Ginyu Force head on when they come searching. In order to make themselves ready, uses the last bits of his energy to release the hidden potential of the cloaked figure, and then gives his last will - Nail must join the group and help fight Freiza.

The Ginyu Force then promptly arrives to personally crash the newly formed groups tea party. Ginyu steals their Dragon Ball and flies off with it, leaving the rest of the Force to take on the group. Krillin is picked to take on Guldo, who very nearly beats Krillin before the timely assistance of Nail saves him. Next, Nail takes on Recoome, who might have beaten the Namekian if Piccolo's special beam cannon hadn't interrupted the battle and finished the large warrior. After this, Burter and Jeice assault the group together, and this gives the mysterious stranger his chance to step in.

Tien, after many long years in the Other World, has been returned to existence (ironically enough) by the reincarnation of the being he died to kill. In addition to his other worldly training, Guru's "blessing" has increased his power exponentially. Needless to say, the two are completely squashed, and the still living members of the group (Guldo and Jeice) both run away when given the chance.

They return to Captain Ginyu, who has the Dragon Ball from Krillin's group and is now accosting Vegeta (who is protecting nearly four balls), and Goku. The two take turns taking on the remainder of the force, with Vegeta decapitating Guldo and Goku snapping the neck of Jeice. Ginyu then uses his Body Switch technique to switch bodies with Vegeta.

Goku at first has a tough time with the new Ginyu, but eventually he steps back and allows Ginyu to kill Vegeta in Ginyu's old body. He compliments Ginyu in Vegeta's body on his useful technique, but bluffs that it won't work on him. After a long chat, the two agree that Frieza is not exactly the best boss, and it would be more convenient for them to team up and run away with the Dragon Balls themselves. So, the two get their five dragon balls together on Bulma's ship, and tell her to wait in the atmosphere - given the readings they are getting from Frieza, this fight might reach planet destroying levels very soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Frieza Against Earth's Finest!**

By this point in time, Frieza is expecting Ginyu to bring the final dragon balls back to his base. But, he has been informed, after many, many interrogations, that one cannot summon Porguna unless they have a password. So, believing that Ginyu will drop the balls off by the ship, Frieza flies off on his own, leaving Dodoria to man the spaceship. He searches for, and eventually finds Guru and the Z Fighters.

He threatens to end Guru's life multiple times unless he gives up the password, but eventually is forced to stop when it is revealed that Guru's death will render the Dragon balls useless. He changes tactics, turning around and threatening to kill Dende, a small namekian boy who Krillin saved earlier. It is here that Guru realizes what he must do to save the planet. He can no longer stand by and watch this monster harass and kill his people. Despite the complacent exterior, Guru has become truly infuriated. He large arm limply reaches out and touches Nail's chest. The confused Namekian looks up at his proverbial father innocently, almost completely oblivious to the change that is about to take place.

Everyone on the planet feels what happens next. Nail and Guru's essences fused, creating a new warrior with at least twenty times the strength that Nail had, and at least double what Frieza currently possessed. All across the planet, people who were ki-sensitive turned and stared into the air at the wondrous new power that just graced Planet Namek.

Goku looked into the air, a mixture of worry and excitement on his face. Looked like Frieza was going to be occupied for a good while. He turned to Ginyu (in Vegeta's body) and nodded, and the two quickly flew into the air. But their destination was different – they were headed for Frieza's ship to take the last two dragon balls from Dodoria. Upon arrival, Goku had an intense showdown with the fat pink warrior. Ginyu offered to intervene, but Goku wanted to show him precisely which of the two was most powerful. Dodoria, needless to say, was promptly erased from existence, and the final two dragon balls came into possession of the two (technically) Saiyan warriors. There was only a small problem – the were turned to stone. It must have happened sometime after that large energy appeared on the planet. Neither of the two were quite sure what it meant, but both assumed they would still be able to use the balls. So, they hijacked Frieza's ship and flew it into space to meet Bulma and Trunks. Bulma parked her much smaller ship inside the cargo bay of Frieza's old ship, with the seven balls now gathered.

They couldn't quite figure out the password, but they didn't try much. They were too focused on what was going on below.

The newly minted Namekian champion stared down the space tyrant with a cool yet fierce gaze that gave even the scourge of the universe some pause. Frieza was shocked, to say the least, that any Namekian could possess this sort of strength. Not that it was anything he couldn't handle. In fact, the challenge excited him a little bit, bruised ego aside. Realizing his deficiency, Frieza wasted no time in transforming to his second form. At this level, he and the Namekian were almost evenly matched. This was impossible!

The new Namekian was not keen to waste time either – he flew at the evil overlord with everything he had in him. The Z Fighters were very surprised to find that Frieza and their new friend were at a stalemate of power. But what destructive power it was! They were forced to move farther back from the battlefield after a few too many craters and blasts started to make the entire area nigh apocalyptic in geography.

Unfortunately, everyone underestimated Frieza, including Guru, who had at least suspected that he possessed a second form. But what no one knew was that Frieza had a third form. It was this that finally broke the fierce stalemate between the two mighty fighters. As Frieza morphed into even more of a monstrous being than he had been before, the other Z Fighters (Tien, Piccolo, Krillin) were forced to intervene on the behalf of their friend. The four of them put up a good fight, to be sure, and they might have defeated Frieza with Tien's Tri-Beam Cannon, which drew on the power of all of the fighters present. But even that was not enough. For though the cannon had nearly torn Frieza in half, this simply prompted yet another transformation to a higher, even more dangerous form.

Instead of becoming more of a monster, this final form of his conserved all of his body strength into a small body, allowing deadly focus of his energy. While before they had been afraid, the four of them were now utterly terrified. Tien turned to Piccolo, placing a hand on his shoulder. Now was the time to enact the plan. They had saved it as a last resort, but nothing could be done, now. It seemed that the only thing that could stop a demon was another like it. Krillin and the other guy both volunteered themselves to hold off the beast, while Tien and Piccolo retreated from the battle in order to do the devil's deed.

Piccolo turned to Tien, a sad look on his face. They didn't have time to overthink these decisions, he had sat on it the entire journey here. His hand flew out, impaling Tien cleanly and effortlessly in the chest. He gasped, and thanked his friend for the sweet release from this cruel world he had been dropped into. The blood poured forth from his dead body, and the circle was complete.

Finally, the blanket was removed from the strange object that Tien and Piccolo had traveled to Namek with. It was less imposing than one might think – a rice cooker, nothing more, nothing less.

The blood ran towards the cooker, and after a few painful seconds seeped into the damned contraption. There was a glow, and the job was finished – a bright puff of smoke, and the Demon King Piccolo (the original!) was released from his meager prison, where he had been locked since his fateful battle with Tien all those years ago. He gazed at his son, an evil sneer on his face. What a pathetic thing his offspring, his reincarnation had become. A tool for Kami!

Piccolo Junior didn't have the time or patience for this nonense. As a show of strength, he ripped off the right arm of his "father" and beat him over the head with it, slamming him into the ground. He then proceeded to place his foot on the other Namekian's neck, crushing his windpipe. He explained the situation in as few words as possible – they were going to need a serious power up to beat Frieza. Senior just laughed at his misguided son. There was absolutely nothing that he could do to stop the tyrant. They were on entirely different playing fields of power.

Piccolo sighed, almost ready to give up. At the battlefield nearby, Frieza struck a crushing blow, and the other Namek fell to the ground, dead for good. Krillin was the only one left to fight this beast. Things were looking grim, and the last of the Namek were dead.

Piccolo was incensed. This freak had killed his entire race, all the way up to their greatest warrior. Here he was with his evil father, reminded of all the failures of his years. He could never escape his past, he was good at being bad, and bad at being good. He hated Frieza, he hated Goku, he hated his father, hell he even hated Kami for making him be good. But most importantly of all, Piccolo felt a great hatred for himself. There was no getting around it – he would never cut it as a hero.

His father, realizing what was going on in his sons head, cackled maniacally. He had hit upon something good, something very good. He reached up, his arm extending and grabbing Piccolo's chest. Both of their auras increased significantly as on the battlefield nearby, Krillin finally made the coward's decision and ran, flying off straight into the air, wanting to get the hell away from Namek and back to Earth. He didn't sign up to save some alien world!

Piccolos Junior and Senior were both consumed in an all destroying firestorm of hate. One energy, one mind, one being poured into another. Halfway through the transformation a determined Piccolo slowly pulled his evil father's hand off of his chest, putting his own on his father's chest. Senior yelled in frustration, and Piccolo smirked maniacally. There was no doubt whose mind would come out on top of this transformation.

Enough was enough. Bulma informed the boys that the planet was literally falling apart. The ship would be thrown into deep space from the resulting explosion. They had to leave. So, under Goku's orders, the ship turned around, and headed back home for Earth, with Ginyu/Vegeta on board. Despite the interest of the battle below, Goku did not want to risk getting thrown into deep space. After a visit to earth and some intense training, he would come back here and lay his own claim to the Cold Empire.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Two Time Travelers Arrive**

It has been an entire year since the events that led to the destruction of Planet Namek. Krillin, who had fled the battle, is now the only fighter left on planet Earth. No one knows of his cowardice, not even his estranged wife who very desperately attempts to reconnect with the quiet monk to no avail. Though he is not unkind to her, he is not kind, either. She is essentially his maid, and apart from the time they conceived Ox, their young son, they have never had sex. She is still deeply haunted by her times with the pervert Roshi, and her husband is of no use in bringing her towards recovery.

So, in the late night, she leaves. Leaves it all behind - Krillin, Ox, the whole lot. Never to return.

Only a few weeks later, Krillin senses a great power approaching the Planet Earth. He knows exactly what it is - the end of him. He had hoped that the events on Namek would end in either a mutual destruction of the two demons. But this... this was the worst case scenario.

He solemnly approached the spot where he determined that this great power would land. Though he had been willing to cut and run on Namek, this was his planet. He was the only man able to defend Earth, despite all of his shortcomings. He brought his young son Ox, who was now ten years old, with him. It would be unfortunate for him to see this, but he knew his opponent - his son would be taken care of, and would not be blamed for the sins of his father.

Wasn't that just what Kami had done with Piccolo? And then Piccolo had continued the cycle with Trunks, and soon he would do the same with Ox, after he had enacted his revenge on Krillin for his cowardice.

The power wasn't  _exactly_  Piccolo's. The union between father and son had not been equal, leaning towards the younger Piccolo, but there was still a dark tinge to it. Not quite evil, but... willing to do what was necessary. Pragmatic, almost.

Krillin knew he had no hope, and when the remnant of Frieza's ship landed on Earth, he approached it with no joy. He watched in dismay as the ramp descended from the underside of the ship, and the Demon King Piccolo descended just as gracefully. His face held much of the same calm manner that had been trained into it by Kami, but now there was a scowl line. He was infinitely more powerful than he had been before. While Nail and Guru's fusion had been great, when two Namekians who had already been one before combined, the result was not additive, but exponential. That was why he had the power to defeat Frieza, and that's why he was standing here, ready to literally obliterate Krillin. He was useless coward, and had caused the destruction of the entire Namekian race.

This is where it would end. With Krillin's body splayed across the ground and Piccolo walking away with the crying Ox in his arms, to train him as a much better hero than his father had ever been.

But that was another future. This one was different, and that was shown the very second a large energy ball appeared in the air. The two fighters, who were already in battle stances, ready to face each other, both looked up in amazement as the energy resulting from a literal break in the space time barrier occurred.

From the rip in time emerged a machine. On it's side, it bore the sign of the mysterious Red Ribbon Army, which had been obliterated many years ago at the hands Goku, after they had raped his future wife, Bulma. The machine landed. It was large, not quite as big as Frieza (er, Piccolo)'s spaceship, but big enough to fit a handful of people. The hatch for the ship opened, and two forms emerged from it.

The first one had a full head of black hair, trailing past his ears, and a blue gi and pants, complete with an orange belt tying it all together. The other one was a bit less normal, and looked much like a big, humanoid insect. They quickly introduced themselves as Ox and Cell, respectively.

They had picked this day for a very specific reason. They believed it to be the beginning of the end of the Earth, which no longer existed in their sad future. Their tale was a long and sad one, and they told it over a fire after they convinced the two warriors-at-odds to lay off from each other's throats at least until they knew the consequences of their actions.

In their timeline, Piccolo had killed Krillin and taken his son Ox to train him. This murder had estranged him from Kami, who had kicked him off the tower. Piccolo spent three years with Ox, indoctrinating the young boy, and brainwashing him, to make sure that he did not betray his master like Trunks had. After the three years had passed, the Earth was attacked by a powerful foe.

Goku.

His triumphant return, completely with an entirely new cast of warriors under his command, led to the Earth's untimely destruction. Piccolo eventually faced down the Saiyan Warrior, who on Earth was known as the "King Slayer". Emperor Pilaf, The Ox King, Prince Vegeta - The Demon King Piccolo was an easy addition to the royal blood on his hands. Ox soon became a member of the underground resistance, once he was old enough, that is. He started as a trench runner, and eventually became the strongest of the humans and the leader of the resistance. He tapped into any and all resources that he could, but it was never enough. He had uncovered this strange insectoid creature in an underground lab. Named Cell, it declared that it was intent upon both becoming perfect and destroying Goku once and for all. That was good enough for Ox, and the creature soon joined him and the resistance.

Still, this Cell creature never could reach perfection, which he claimed would help them end Goku. They never could track down the "keys" that would enable this transformation. So, they had done the next best thing - created a time machine, in order to build up Earth's forces before Goku ever arrived and destroyed the planets heroes. This time, they would be ready.

With this, they left the two warriors and the child and went back into their timeline, returning to wherever they came from. In the cold night, the two warriors looked at each other across the fire, both eyes cold. Ox started crying, and Krillin looked apathetically in his direction. With extreme reluctance, he grabbed the hand of the crying ten year old and flew away, having survived his date with death itself, in the form the Demon Piccolo.


	7. Chapter 7

**A Different Enemy**

With the revelation of their potential future, both Krillin and Piccolo could not help but be a little bit scared by how close they had come to the brink. While Kami was not happy in the least that Piccolo had consumed his Demonic Father, he understood the circumstances. He agreed to let him back onto the tower, because the fact that he had not killed Krillin gave him hope that there was still good in the wayward Namekian. With Kami on their side, the two antagonistic warriors (with Ox at their heels) traveled across the entire world, searching for the Dragon Balls. With Kami's help, a task that might have taken them months or years was reduced to a week time span.

Using Shenron's power, the duo were able to wish for their departed ally – Tien – back to life. He was surprisingly fine with the situation, and revealed that when returned to life the other time, he had been in deep emotional pain due to the lingering contained King Piccolo. Krillin acknowledged that this same thing had corrupted him after his wife had revived him but Goku had still been locked up. Indeed, this fact had caused Krillin to resent Chi-Chi for not allowed his sacrifice to stick and mean something, and led to them drifting even further than they already had.

The three trained for a full year, and Krillin would sporadically leave his son in the care of either Tien or Piccolo, for weeks at a time, in order for him to train them. Of course, Krillin trained the boy himself, but was much harder on the boy than the others, and in one instance Tien had to prevent the monk from killing his son. After the year had passed, the group got together once more and wished back their new friend from Namek, Gast. He was the result of the fusion between Guru and Nail, and had spent the last few years in the other world. Though he was sad that the Namekians had been wiped out, he did agree that they were quite at home in the heavens. After a long talk with Kami, he agreed to help the group, with one stipulation – they bring Dende back to life next year and allow a new race of Nameks to flourish on Earth.

Though none of them really had the authority to make this call, the warriors assembled did agree not to try and remove any future Namekian colony. With that, Gast joined the new Z Team, and they trained for one final year for the arrival of the great King Slayer. They alternated between long periods of time alone, meditating, and times where they all came together to train and push each other to their absolute limits.

Finally, the fateful time arrived, and the group arranged themselves on the Lookout. Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Gast, and Ox. This was Earth's first line of defense, and they would only become greater upon the arrival of the time travelers, who would surely arrive any moment. And then, the hard part – Goku's arrival. The return of the dark king. The very thought honestly made Krillin shudder, as he thought back to the time that Goku beat him within an inch of his life multiple times, only to bring him back each time.

But things were changed far more than the heroes could ever know.

A city was blown to absolute shreds, and the group assumed this was Goku's appearance on planet Earth. But, they could not sense any ki, which was strange. So, they agreed to send a scout to discover what was happening. Krillin volunteered Ox, and Tien volunteered himself in the boy's place, much to the monk's chagrin.

By the time Tien arrived at the battle site, everything was rubble. It was obvious that this had been done by warriors much like Tien and Krillin, and it was also obvious that they were still here. Perhaps it was a stroke of fateful luck that Tien had been sent and not any of the others. After returning from the dead not once, but twice, Tien was of a much different mindset than the others. They lived in this dirty world of constant corruption, of brute strength ruling over the weak. Tien was much more skillful. In his time in the next life, he had been trained by some of the greatest warriors of the  _universe_. While he was not at Piccolo's level, he had his own ways to catch up.

The point being?

Tien wasn't scared when it happened. The moment when his old friends stepped before him, completely different from what they were. That moment of pause might have resulted in his death, for they didn't pause to explain themselves. All Tien knew was that they were clearly not human beings.

There were two of them, one a medium sized man with long black hair and a scar across his face. The other was a petite woman, possibly starved, but still strong, with medium length fine black hair. Judging by the tatoos on the back of their neck's, they were Androids 17 and 18, respectively.

They double teamed him, and he fought back without reservation. Blocking attacks left and right, taking an almost entirely defensive position. Their battle traversed the entire rubble of this dead city, with it's thousands of lost souls. There seemed to be no limit to their immense energy, and Tien just barely kept up with his other worldly techniques. One in particular he had been hiding for quite some time, hoping to unveil against Goku. He hadn't been sure on Namek, but now he had mastered the move to where he was sure it could have taken down Frieza. If only he'd known then!

But then his soul would have still been darkened, so he had no regrets.

Regardless, the tri-clops teeth grit in serious concentration, probably the first face he'd made since his return that was anything but tranquil. It contorted into one of intense push, as if he was forcing his body beyond what it would normally have been capable. Just as the two androids looked as if they would beat the tall bald man, something happened.

"Kao Ken!"

And like a fire his body literally lit up, a red aura covering it and his muscles bulging out. If they hadn't been emotionless machines, the two things might have been shocked at his increase in power. By now, the others were on their way, having sensed the incredible increase in energy that had resulted from Tien's new move. Piccolo silently cursed himself for allowing this cursed human to surpass him.

The Androids knew what they were doing, at least. It was like they had been studying martial arts themselves, and their moves were almost as precise as the heavenly warrior that was Tien Shinhan. Whereas before he was calmly holding back their dual attack, Tien was now on the offensive, blocking them move for move and then delivering three or more hits of his own. They were clearly being pushed back, but their emotionless faces showed no sign of tiring. Though Tien was clearly ahead of them, there just seemed to be no end to their reserve of power.

So, after a long and hard fought battle, wherein Tien had punched and kicked them like rag dolls, the very moment he began to tire him out they struck.

They really had been studying, but it was more specific than that. A move that had very nearly defeated Jackie Chun in one of the last World Martial Arts Tournaments. A hold, a bend, a break. Tien's arm was snapped cleanly and efficiently by the male Android, number 17. Now his concentration broke, and his red aura dissipated, lowering his power level significantly. Now these dirty robots had the upper hand on him, and began their own spree of kicking around the warrior.

Krillin arrived at the scene first, and what he found literally caused him to collapse to his knees. For one short moment, this quiet warrior, this apathetic bastard finally had a moment of true emotion.

For he recognized the two machines. Indeed, one of them he had been close to. At least as close as he had ever gotten to anyone else. The one who had cared for him lovingly, without receiving any in return. The one who had finally gotten tired and left, all those years ago.

The two Androids were Yamcha and Chi-Chi.


	8. Chapter 8

**A Saiyan's Journey**

Wondering what Goku has been up to since we last saw him?

Well, long story short, he fought a few guys, lost a lot, but won where it counted.

What came in handy was his cunning, a trait he had picked up from Earth that few in the galaxy could understand. Sure, his power level did put him above a few, but that didn't mean he was the best. Cooler and Brolly both had him beat in that area.

He fought Cooler shortly after leaving Namek. He lost, quite badly in fact. But the sick bastard kept him alive, and sent him around the galaxy, destroying planets just like his ancestors had done before him.

He might have been stuck in this slavery forever, with the constant threat of his family's demise keeping him in place. But Goku was a smart one, and he had a trick or two up his sleeve.

One was the Tree of Might. He discovered this little tidbit from one of his many victims, and by the month he had already consumed his first Fruit of Might. He kept his power level hidden from his boss Cooler, out of fear of retribution, or in case the bastard tried to stop him before he got powerful enough to beat him.

Of course, no one is ever that lucky, and one day Cooler took to personally beating Goku's son Trunks, hoping to force his Saiyan in fighting him and showing his true power. Unfortunately for Cooler, he got more than he bargained for, and his skull ended up on Goku's wall.

It had been a battle tipped heavily towards Cooler at first, but Goku's saiyan rage managed to unlock a new form, one with golden hair and sharp teal eyes. A form which had multiplied Goku's power a hundredfold. The purple bug had been squashed.

Freed from slavery, Goku's family once again wandered the galaxy, now hopelessly lost and far from home.

It was by chance that they happened upon New Vegeta, where they were soon introduced to the monster that was Brolly. Thanks to Goku's arrival, the beast snapped and killed much of the rest of Goku's dwindling race. Though our golden haired Saiyan was powerful, he was no match for the force of nature that the unrestrained Brolly had become.

To the horror of both Bulma and Trunks, Goku lost his arm in the fight, and the group was forced to retreat.

Bulma beat Brolly.

Sounds funny, but that's what went down. The blue haired genius managed to invent a cage that kept Brolly docile and near catatonic. In order to manage the immense power the Brolly possessed, it was necessary to drain his ki about once every 24 hours. With this in mind, Bulma built a ki draining mechanism into Goku's new robotic arm, which had been created using ore drilled from a passing asteroid calling the Big Gete Star.

After years of fighting different planet's warriors, eating the Fruit of Might multiple times, and the daily draining of Brolly's immense reserves of power, Goku began to truly verge on being on the most powerful beings in the universe. Though he could have easily taken over any part of the galaxy he liked, there was only one place that he wanted. Only one place he might have called home.

Earth.


End file.
